In regard to Stepan--he is an excellent player. The list of centers that Drew made on the other thread--I just don't know. I wouldn't trade Stepan for half those guys whether it's age or just ability. Stepan right now is a really, really good player and he still has the potential to be even better. Apart from face-off skills (and Stepan's face-off %'s have gotten better every year) and not being quite as good of a skater the guy Derek reminds me most of is Patrice Bergeron. He's an excellent player at both ends of the ice. Knows where he has to be--intuitively knows where his teammates and opponents are all the time and what the best option is. This allows him to anticipate where the play is going. The skating area of his game might be somewhat lagging but he's a player largely able to negate that deficiency just by having a superior grasp of what is going on. IMO he is arguably the Rangers best forward and/or most valuable forward.

Rangers management shouldn't have painted themselves into a corner and be jerking him around here. C'est la vie.

Definitely frustrating. But we don't know what's being offfered and what's being demanded. I think a two-year-six-million-ish 'bridge' deal is what common sense dictates. And we know the rangers are offering the 'bridge' part. But we don't know any of the figures. If this goes too long, I suspect 'leaks' will appear. But this all seems to be cordial for the moment. So maybe they're just waiting on other things to happen. But if leaks are sprung, that's a sign its getting ugly. Hope that doesn't happen.

still convinced both Step and Management is waiting to see who AV cuts from the Rangers Roster on Wednesday, then negotiations will continue. Glen will have a better idea of who's making the team, and what cap hit he'll be at

still convinced both Step and Management is waiting to see who AV cuts from the Rangers Roster on Wednesday, then negotiations will continue. Glen will have a better idea of who's making the team, and what cap hit he'll be at

You need veteran guys cut to be able to give him the extra money he wants. Powe, asham etc aren't going to get cut this early in training camp.

Obviously you guys haven't been paying attention. Stepan is being treated "like garbage" and "the Teflon GM" should give him whatever he wants, resign, and renounce hockey forever.

Leaving out the part that Stepan should bite the bullet for the rest of the team because there's only a little in terms of cap $'s left. For some that makes him the bad guy for not having enough loyalty and knuckling under. This is a problem that Glen and/or Jeff Gorton will have to fix--that's what they're paid to do. If they have to dump somebody to get enough $'s then have at it.

During the MSG broadcast,Jeff Gorton was supposed to be interviewed but he wasn't.

Yeah I was wondering what happened with that, wanted to hear what Jeff had to say. Regardless we really need to getr him signed asap, he needs to learn this new system. God forbid this stretches into the Regular Season he will only set himself back and it will take him a long time to get comfortable in the new system. I really hope we see him signed by Friday the absolute latest.

Obviously you guys haven't been paying attention. Stepan is being treated "like garbage" and "the Teflon GM" should give him whatever he wants, resign, and renounce hockey forever.

Obviously you haven't been paying attention. Glen Sather is a great GM and this team is highly skilled at cap management. Further, no player should ever try to make more money but should instead fire their agent and take exactly what management tells them to because they have a moral obligation to never think about themselves but to only do whatever management demands of them because obviously the past decade or so has shown that NHL management always has the best interests of the player in mind and only wants what's best for them.